Hurricane Wilma Bears Down on Cancun in Mexico

The Mexican resort city of Cancun was bracing for the impact of Hurricane Wilma yesterday as it bore down on the Yucatan peninsula after briefly becoming the most severe Atlantic storm on record.

Wilma was expected to hit the city today on its way into the Gulf of Mexico. Plans to evacuate tourists and locals from coastal areas were slowly taking shape yesterday.

By contrast, preparations were well under way for the storm's expected arrival in Florida on Sunday, with tens of thousands of people already cleared from the Florida Keys.

On Wednesday, it became the most powerful category five hurricane ever monitored before weakening to a category four, with maximum sustained winds of 145mph. It killed a dozen people in Haiti and one man in Jamaica early this week. It may miss Mexico altogether, passing through the gap between the Yucatan peninsula and Cuba's western tip.

But with the storm getting closer, tourists were ordered off the island of Isla Mujeres, near Cancun, while other islands and coastal towns were put on alert. The large Cancun hotels were ordered to be ready for mass evacuation. Many foreign tourists filled the city's international airport looking for flights out. Hundreds of schools were closed, with many being converted into shelters.

Evacuations have also begun in Cuba, and about 500 tourists staying in flimsy cabins on the Bay Islands in Honduras have been moved to safe locations.